Terrebonne Parish Council mulls switching to gas power

Published: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 9:28 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 9:28 p.m.

Terrebonne Parish government is exploring switching its vehicle fleet to natural gas to take advantage of what many experts predict will be a surge in domestic production of the fuel in coming years.

The Parish Council voted unanimously Tuesday to pay for a $19,000 study to examine the feasibility of converting some or all of the parish’s more than 400 vehicles from gasoline and diesel to compressed natural gas.

“It’s the wave of the future,” said Parish President Michel Claudet.

The study, by the Baton Rouge-based Professional Engineering Consultants Corp., will examine which vehicles among the parish’s cars, trucks and buses would be candidates for conversion to compressed natural gas, the cost of converting them as well as the savings realized, according to a letter sent to parish government.

“The concept of integrating more ‘green concepts’ and energy conservation into your vehicles is not only economic sense but also environmental and public-relations sense,” the letter says. The study will take about 90 days.

Natural gas, which burns cleaner than gasoline or diesel, is produced in the United States in abundance. An impending gas boom, much of it produced by hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” across the country, means exploring the conversion makes sense, Claudet said.

Other Louisiana parishes and cities, including Lafayette and Shreveport, have already started the switch and are saving money. “It’s expected to stay at a low rate,” Claudet said.

Natural gas had fallen this month to under $3 per million BTU, down from nearly $7.50 per million BTU in January 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

BP’s Energy Outlook, released this month, says “the import share of oil and gas in the U.S. will fall to levels not seen since the 1980s, largely due to rising domestic production of natural gas and ethanol.”

However, some experts predict prices will eventually rise as more utilities and vehicles are converted to natural gas.

Most of the surge in domestic production of natural gas is driven by advances in horizontal drilling and fracking, says the Natural Gas Supply Association, an industry group. Companies drill thousands of feet deep, inserting casings and filling the spaces in between with cement to prevent leaks. Then, millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemical additives are pumped into the well at high pressure to crack the hard rock beds and release the gas.

Industry groups and environmentalists have debated the risks of hydraulic fracturing. Critics say the potential for contaminating drinking water is enormous, while shale producers say fracturing fluids never contact drinking water.

“Hydraulic fracturing takes place thousands of feet below the water table and thus (is) isolated from drinking water by thousands of feet and millions of tons of impermeable rock. The gas industry also notes that more than one million wells have been fractured without drinking water contamination,” the Natural Gas Supply Association says.

City Editor Robert Zullo can be reached at 448-7614 or robert.zullo@houmatoday.com.

<p>Terrebonne Parish government is exploring switching its vehicle fleet to natural gas to take advantage of what many experts predict will be a surge in domestic production of the fuel in coming years.</p><p>The Parish Council voted unanimously Tuesday to pay for a $19,000 study to examine the feasibility of converting some or all of the parish's more than 400 vehicles from gasoline and diesel to compressed natural gas.</p><p>“It's the wave of the future,” said Parish President Michel Claudet. </p><p>The study, by the Baton Rouge-based Professional Engineering Consultants Corp., will examine which vehicles among the parish's cars, trucks and buses would be candidates for conversion to compressed natural gas, the cost of converting them as well as the savings realized, according to a letter sent to parish government.</p><p>“The concept of integrating more 'green concepts' and energy conservation into your vehicles is not only economic sense but also environmental and public-relations sense,” the letter says. The study will take about 90 days.</p><p>Natural gas, which burns cleaner than gasoline or diesel, is produced in the United States in abundance. An impending gas boom, much of it produced by hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” across the country, means exploring the conversion makes sense, Claudet said.</p><p>Other Louisiana parishes and cities, including Lafayette and Shreveport, have already started the switch and are saving money. “It's expected to stay at a low rate,” Claudet said.</p><p>Natural gas had fallen this month to under $3 per million BTU, down from nearly $7.50 per million BTU in January 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.</p><p>BP's Energy Outlook, released this month, says “the import share of oil and gas in the U.S. will fall to levels not seen since the 1980s, largely due to rising domestic production of natural gas and ethanol.”</p><p>However, some experts predict prices will eventually rise as more utilities and vehicles are converted to natural gas.</p><p>Most of the surge in domestic production of natural gas is driven by advances in horizontal drilling and fracking, says the Natural Gas Supply Association, an industry group. Companies drill thousands of feet deep, inserting casings and filling the spaces in between with cement to prevent leaks. Then, millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemical additives are pumped into the well at high pressure to crack the hard rock beds and release the gas.</p><p>Industry groups and environmentalists have debated the risks of hydraulic fracturing. Critics say the potential for contaminating drinking water is enormous, while shale producers say fracturing fluids never contact drinking water. </p><p>“Hydraulic fracturing takes place thousands of feet below the water table and thus (is) isolated from drinking water by thousands of feet and millions of tons of impermeable rock. The gas industry also notes that more than one million wells have been fractured without drinking water contamination,” the Natural Gas Supply Association says.</p><p>City Editor Robert Zullo can be reached at 448-7614 or robert.zullo@houmatoday.com.</p>